Here's what a steel guitar sitar bar looks like. It's essentially just a big heavy bar with one
edge flattened. When applied to the strings, it causes them to buzz somewhat. This results in
a fair imitation of the sound of a sitar instrument. Rarely used, but highly coveted, the best days
of your life will be the day you first get a sitar bar and the day you either sell it or decide that
nobody in their right mind would want a steel guitar to sound like that. It's a neat tool to have in your
arsenal if you want to avoid sounding like the same old thing for the entire duration of every gig.
It will also catch listeners off guard and can draw attention to yourself and your instrument! While I am at it,
I might as well show you the plexiglass bar I got somewhere in my travels. As hard as this is to believe,
it sounds just about like a regular steel bar with only slightly less sustain and very similar tone.
If fact I am not including a sound sample of it, because it really doesn't offer any new sounds. Perhaps
a less dense bar made out of a lighter, softer plastic might have more effect.
Here's a sound bite of what you can expect to hear for the hard earned dollars you spent getting your sitar
bar. Of course you could same some buck and just make your own from an unused bar. It's also possible to
use the flat edge of any appropriate object to get a very similar sound. A few people have been able to
emulate this sound by turning their normal steel bar almost completely sideways.
